29 November 2013

According to the latest statistics released by the Department of Environmental Affairs, South Africa
has lost 891 rhinos to illegal poaching since the beginning of
2013. Of the rhinos poached, 548 rhinos were killed in the Kruger National Park, 89 in Limpopo, 82 in North West, 79 in KwaZulu-Natal, 77 in
Mpumalanga, 5 in the Eastern Cape, 4 in Gauteng and the Freestate respectively as well as 3 in the Marakele National Park.
The total number of people facing rhino poaching-related charges in South Africa has increased to 310 since January 2013.

The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) is urging members of the public to report incidents of rhino poaching
or any tip-offs to the anonymous tip-off lines 0800 205 005, 08600 10111 or Crime-Line on 32211.

28 November 2013

Cape Town was named "Best City" in the 2013 edition of Britain's biggest travel survey, the annual Telegraph Travel Awards. More than 75,000 people took part in the survey and voted for their favourite travel destinations and companies, making Telegraph Travel Awards probably one of the most comprehensive and wide-ranging travel surveys in the world.

The Nyungwe Forest National Park is located in southeast Rwanda, about 225km from the country's capital Kigali. It covers about 1000km² and is known as Africa's largest protected mountain rainforest. The Nyungwe Forest is home to one of Africa's greatest concentrations of chimpanzees and to at least 310 bird species, of which 26 are endemic.

The destinations featured in the 2014 Best of the World-list are (in alphabetical order):

South African skaters Pieter Retief, Jansen van Staden, Yann Horowitz, Khulu Dlamini from the adidas Skateboarding Team South Africa recently visited Port Elizabeth. As always on their trips - also check their videos about Cape Town, Durban and Maputo - they got themselves filmed while skating through the city and came up with a unique skater's view on Port Elizabeth. Kiff! Kudos adi three leaf, Pieter, Jansen, Yann and Khulu for the video! Enjoy!

22 November 2013

According to the latest statistics released by the Department of Environmental Affairs, South Africa
has lost 860 rhinos to illegal poaching since the beginning of
2013. Of the rhinos poached, 521 rhinos were killed in the Kruger National Park, 87 in Limpopo, 82 in North West, 79 in KwaZulu-Natal, 77 in
Mpumalanga, 5 in the Eastern Cape, 4 in Gauteng, 3 in the Marakele National Park and 2 in the Free State.
The total number of people facing rhino poaching-related charges in South Africa has increased to 285 since January 2013.

The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) is urging members of the public to report incidents of rhino poaching
or any tip-offs to the anonymous tip-off lines 0800 205 005, 08600 10111 or Crime-Line on 32211.

South Africa hosts the 2014 African Nations Championship (CHAN) from 11 January 2014 to 01 February 2014. Tickets for the event, which will be available at Shoprite, Checkers and all Computicket outlets countrywide, go on sale on 29 November 2013 and will cost as little as R40 - up to a maximum of R200. According to Local Organising Committee (LOC) CEO Mvuzo Mbebe, the tickets will be sold in three discount phases, varying from up 20% discount for the 1st Phase (29 Nov 2013 - 05 Jan 2014), and up 15% and 10% for 2nd (06 Jan - 18 Jan 2014) and 3rd phases (19 Jan 2014 - 22 Jan 2014), respectively.
The 16 countries vying for the Championship are: Burkina Faso, Burundi, Congo-Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe and the host nation South Africa. The host cities of the tournament are Cape Town (Cape Town Stadium & Athlone Stadium), Polokwane (Peter Mokaba Stadium) and Mangaung/Bloemfontein (Free State Stadium).

The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA), which links the Tanzanian port of Dar Es Salaam with the town of New Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia's Central Province, has suspended the transportation of passengers and freight between the two countries. The railway is expected to remain closed for at least seven days (since 18 Nov 2013) after a truck destroyed a section of the Chimbuya railway bridge, some 650km from Dar Es Salaam. We'll keep you posted!

20 November 2013

The V&A Waterfront and Jochen Zeitz, a German art collecter and entrepreneur, yesterday announced a unique partnership to create South Africa's first museum of contemporary African art at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. The museum, which will be located in the historic Grain Silos at the waterfront, will be named the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA) after the Zeitz Collection, which will form the museum's founding collection.Zeitz MOCAA will comprise over 9,500m² and will be spread over nine floors. It will focus on collecting, preserving, researching and exhibiting cutting-edge contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora. Through an entire floor dedicated to education, the museum will develop a new art-loving, museum-going audience. The architect for the Zeitz MOCAA will be announced in February 2014, and it is expected to open its doors to visitors at the end of 2016. The inaugural exhibition, which opens at the Zeitz MOCAA Pavilion on 23 November 2013, will present the work of Swazi artist Nandipha Mntambo.

19 November 2013

update (22 Nov 2013): According to a report in the online edition of Namibian newspaper "New Era", the Keetmanshoop Old Mutual Retail Centre will only officially open in April 2014. However, the mall opened partially for business on 15 Nov 2013.

update (18 Nov 2013): According to the BBC, the Nelson Mandela Centre Of Memory will open to the public in the first week of Feb 2014. It will be free of charge, but visitors will have to book online first.

Kenneth Kaunda International Airport (IATA: LUN) in Lusaka (Zambia), located about 15km northeast of the city's CBD, will see various major upgrades over the next at least 4.5 years. It is projected that the construction of the upgrades will cost approx. US$360 million.

15 November 2013

David Hoffmann from Davidsbeenhere.com recently visited Swaziland and went on a safari in the Mkhaya Game Reserve. While there, he summed up his experiences on game drives in Africa and compiled what he calls the "Safari Etiquette 101". Definitely a helpful video for safari newbies! Would you add anything? Please let us know! Kudos David for the 101!

13 November 2013

The national airline of Kenya, Kenya Airways, and the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, will expand their codeshare agreement. From 01 January 2014, the cooperation between the two airlines will be expanded through the addition of the following four routes:

This will bring the total number of frequencies operated jointly by Kenya Airways and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines to approximately 44 weekly flights. Currently, the two airlines operate a daily service between Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Amsterdam and Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. The airlines jointly operate 19 weekly return flights between the Netherlands, France (Air France) and Kenya.

Due to the high popularity of Fastjet's (new) route between Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar Es Salaam and Songwe International Airport in Mbeya, the airline will increase the number of flights between the two destinations. From 24 November 2013 Fastjet will introduce a Sunday flight and then, from the 17th December 2014, a further three flights per week.
The city of Mbeya is located in southwest Tanzania. It is the first larger urban settlement encountered when travelling overland from neighbouring Zambia and the location of a regional TAZARA Railway hub. The city's airport is located approximately 10 km from the city center.

12 November 2013

Zambia's only domestic scheduled airline, Proflight Zambia, will launch flights from Lusaka to Mongu Airport (IATA: MNR) in Mongu on November 27 2013. The airline will operate two weekly flights on Wednesdays and Thursdays between the two destinations.